Index for letter-books



(No Model.) INDEX FOR LETTER BOOKS. y No. 33?,454. Patented Mar. 9, 1886.

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ROBERT SPURGIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

INDEX FOR LETTER=BOOKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 337,45-, dated March 9,1886,

Serial No. 170,801,

(No uiOdeLl To LZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT SPURGIN, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented an Improved Index for Letter-Books, of which the following is a specification.

Hitherto it has been usual to make indices of this sort in what is known as the cabinet form,77 in which the only clue to the desired letter is the name of the writer.

My invention lies, principally, in the fact that myimproved index retains the alphabetical arrangement ofthe names of the writers, which, as I have stated, is the chief feature of letter-book indices now in common use, and presents the new and valuable feature of retaining the order of date in the index itself, whereby my index presents two varieties of information in a compact form, which have never before been united in the same index, thereby affording a new clue in the search for any letter in the index-to wit: the date of the letter or the order in which the letters occur in the book.

In the accompanying drawing, illustrating my invention, my index is represented in its usual form, covering two pages of the book.

It will be observed that I have shown vertical columns headed by letters of the alphabet, a column headed Page one headed Date,77 and another headed Subject The central vertical column headed Page contains printed figures from l up, indicating pages of the It will be observed that each of these figures stands between horizontal rulings, and that there is therefore a horizontal subdivision or section of the paper extending entirely across the two pages of the index for each page ofthe letter-book. As each letter is written and recorded in the book I enter the name of the writer in the rectangle at the intersection of the horizontal section of the index bearing the number of the page on which the letter is recorded, and the vertical section or column headed by the tirst letter of the name. I enter the date of the letter in the same horizontal section under the column-heading Date,

and under the heading Subject I enter a structed and filled up in this manner knowli edge of either the subject-matter, the date, or the name of the writer of any letter will suffice to enable it to be readily found.

As an additional aid in the use of the index, and to facilitate search when the date vor approximate date of the letters only is known, I propose to affix' tabs to each leaf, or to each second or third leaf, as convenient, on the subject-column side, placing on the tab the date of the horizontal section corresponding toit, as indicated in the drawing.

Vhile I have described the iigures in the -column headed Page as printed, thespaces in that column may be left blank and the iigures iilled in by the book-keeper when making the entries.

Hy index is capable of being used for letters received as well as for letters sent with little or no change. If such letters are fixed for preservation to the pages of a book, the number in the column headed Page will indicate the page of the book on which the letter is placed.

y It' theletters are filed in other ways, as by placing them in boxes or on wires, they may be numbered in their order, and in that case the numbers in the vertical column will indicate the number assigned to each letter, and that column should be headed Number of letter.

In cases where the letters are short and more than one is contained on a page ot the letterbook, the proper number of .separate entries may be made in the single line appropriated to the page, and to facilitate the separation of two such entries I propose to have the index ruled with faint central lines in the horizontal pages should be added until the number of roo horizontal sections equals the number of pages in the letter-book.

It will be observed that several of the least common of the letters of the alphabet are grouped together in single vertical columns. Greater compactness is thus secured without materially detracting from the merit of the index. Theindex may, however, be printed with aseparate eolu mn foreach letter of the alphabet.

Modifications of construction shown which may be useful are the use of two columns headed Page or Number of letter on the right and left hand sides of the double pages, respectively, instead ofat the fold of the double pages, as shown, and which might render the indexing and reference a little more convenient, the addition of a column adjoining the subject-coluinn,forcontainingreference to other letters on the same subject or for noting dates of answers, the reduction of the proportionate Width of the alphabet-columns,and a corresponding increase of' the Width of the subject-column.

XVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A letter-book index having vertical columns headed by letters ofthe alphabet and 25 cording dates in consecutive order, subst-air 35 tially as described and shown.

ROBERT SPURGIN.

Witnesses: i

FREDERICK O. GOODWIN, E. L. HUBER. 

